


Shape and Form

by potentiality_26



Category: King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017)
Genre: F/F, Ficlet, Missing Scene, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 11:14:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14768495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/potentiality_26/pseuds/potentiality_26
Summary: But even her skills had their limits, and even magic that wasn’t unnatural- like Vortigern’s- came with a price.The battle, and the aftermath.





	Shape and Form

**Author's Note:**

> Fills the "nausea" square for my hc_bingo.

After Londinium, it was Bedivere who asked her why she always kept herself separate, why she went off to do her magic alone even though she was clearly vulnerable whenever she did so.  She didn’t answer him, in part because she didn’t like to say too much to any of these men- but only in part.

The truth was that it made her more vulnerable even than he knew, and she didn’t want them to see her like that. 

She was only a child when the great purges started.  Merlin had been one of the few great mages left by that time; it was an honor that he chose her be his apprentice, but it was an honor made considerably less sweet by the lack of other choices- for him, or for her.  Though most mages were- as Arthur had put it- good with animals, not all were quite so strong in the skill as she- and that had included Merlin himself.  In a different age, she would have been able to find someone else to teach her.  In this one, she had made the best of what she had.  And she was good.  But-  

But even her skills had their limits, and even magic that wasn’t unnatural- like Vortigern’s- came with a price.

In her case, the price was usually just mild weakness.  Birds were easy enough to control- she had always had a special affinity for them, even as a small girl.  Dogs, horses, and other domesticated animals were relatively easy too.  Wild creatures, though, were more difficult- and the outsized beasts from the dark lands were the most difficult of all.  Controlling them made her feel more than weak; it made her feel out of place in her own skin.

That was how she felt now.  Her head was spinning, her gut was lurching, her skin was itching at the absence of scales she was sure she had, not too long ago. 

She knew that the castle had fallen, that Vortigern was dead, that they had won.  But she couldn’t quite-

“Are you all right?”

The mage recognized the voice, though she and its owner didn’t know each other well.  This was Maggie, the resistance spy in Vortigern’s court.  Good, the mage thought distantly.  They had been afraid she was killed.  And by _they_ she meant the others, of course.  What reason did she have to fear for a woman she hardly knew?

“May I touch you?” Maggie asked, taking a unsteady step toward her.  “You... don’t look well.”

Her head was spinning; the earth and the hillside seemed to shift beneath her feet.  Shaking her head to clear it only made the sensation worse.  “It’s all right,” the mage finally heard himself say, her very voice in her throat not quite right, not like herself at all.  She supposed she had meant to say that _she_ was all right, but it didn’t seem to be true.

Maggie caught her arm.  Her fingers were surprisingly strong, the mage thought distantly.  Strong and true, for a lady used to having everything done for her.  “They say you make it look easy,” Maggie said quietly.

The mage made a noise, almost dry heaving.  The arrangement of her organs inside her body was all wrong.  Suddenly she was much closer to Maggie than she had planned to be.  And Maggie was warm, and strong indeed.  Another of those hands drifted up and ran through her hair- pulling loose, as it was, from the ties she had secured it in. 

“I won’t tell,” Maggie promised. 

“I believe you,” the mage replied.  She let her head rest against Maggie's shoulder, let herself rest at last. 

And Maggie would still be there, fingers running gently through her hair, when the mage’s body finally felt like hers once again.  And she would be there later still, as they rebuilt and went forward into a new age. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come see me on [tumblr](http://potentiality-26.tumblr.com).


End file.
